The Practitioners Book 1 Chapter 1

Right now I am supposed to be writing an essay for class, but the internet just proved too tempting to ignore. So I figured what better time than now to make good on my promise from earlier to post some writing. This is the start for a piece I am particularly proud of. Well, as a whole. This is merely the first chapter of the piece I am particularly proud of. That piece is actually a book series that I have been brainstorming for a while now, and the plan is to have it be five books. Currently, I have written about three and a half chapters... I'll get around to writing more eventually. There will be some special title for book one at some point, but for now it is just book one. I now present to you (drumroll please): The Practitioners.

1 

Undercover Secret Agents 

Ash ducked under a kick. While she was at the lowest point in the maneuver she jabbed her elbow into the leg Jane was standing on, but managed to lose her own balance and fell. Jane fell over and on the way down slammed the heel of her foot down right where Ash’s head was a mere moment ago before she rolled out of the way, biting her tongue from the downward momentum. She cried out in pain and ignited her arms from elbow to finger, throwing herself at Ash. Ash got caught by the flame on her right hand and howled at the burn. She tried to punch at Jane’s jaw but gets distracted by the fact that her shirt has been set on fire. 

Ash wore only a sleeveless shirt made from thin and flimsy cotton and the style of pant that a jogger would wear for a pre-sunrise run. She truly hated the no armored clothes rule. At least it meant that Jane can’t have steel toed boots which allowed her to keep her advantage of the strongest kicks. Yet it seemed so pointless. On the job they could wear bullet proof or fire resistant clothes. Or leather. Ash liked leather. It’s tough, functional, and, when worn right, fabulously stylish. 

She scrambled far enough away from Jane to propel herself upwards. The sheer speed of the motion caused the flame to die with a soft whoosh, but it acted like a false birthday candle and quickly ate some more oxygen, sparking back to life. Luckily it only took a few pats of Ash’s shirt to get it gone for good. 

This took place over the course of three seconds, and all while Ash hovered out of reach of her opponent. But as quickly as she popped up, Ash did a surface dive in midair and pile drove herself into Jane’s newly standing form’s belly, knocking her right back down and knocking the wind out of her. 

Ash, now on top, made sure that Jane had no time to recover and as soon as they went down her arm wrapped around Jane’s neck. Jane’s eyes grow wide and she burned the arm around her throat. Ash grunted in pain and promptly flew up to the high ceiling, all the while maintaining her grip on Jane. “Put the flame out or I drop you,” she whispered in her ear. Jane hesitated, letting the fire linger on her toned arms a moment longer. The reward for this is Ash letting her drop a few feet but catching her still far above the steel floor. The floors were originally wood, until the room was assigned a purpose for which flammability was not a good idea. It was bad one, in fact. 

The training room was a very impressive room. The ceiling didn’t make an appearance until it was three stories above the solid steel floor, and the stories of this building were rather high regardless. A drop from higher than a story was sure to cause a lot of pain and break some bones. Probably many bones. The ceiling itself was an elegant white marble, for the room directly above housed the conference hall. The conference hall was a sight to see. The walls of the training room were made of a material that Ash was not familiar with, though it looked a lot like coal. Except that when coal is scraped black rubs off, but these walls were as strong as force fields. In the center of the room, there were actual force fields set up in a diamond shape. They were activated when a fight is in place, allowing trainers and officials to observe the students without interfering. Outside of the diamond, there was a forest of silver columns, all of different breadths. The thickness of each sparkling shaft was seemingly randomly spread throughout the room. The training room shared a strong resemblance to an intoxicated and sparkly rainbow made from all neutral colors. 

Jane seemed to have learned her lesson, and let the flames die. This wasn’t the end of her struggles, but she was beyond progress at this point. Ash’s sleeper hold was relentless and after a few short moments Jane went peacefully unconscious. Ash flew back down and gently placed her best friend’s sleeping form on the bottom of the arena. 

From the corner, a slow clap echoed. A shadowy figure that has been leaning against a column throughout the fight emerged from the gloom just as it faded away. Some mysterious and seemingly invisible person turned on all the lights. Ash couldn’t help but break into a grin. The grin was a very charming grin, but not even close to how charming Ash could be if she was trying. Not on the same planet as that smile, which is quite a feat for two things that both occurred on Earth. 

Avery Smith walked up to the diamond and punched in a code on a keypad. Avery had brown hair that glistened in any and all light and proudly sported the scarlet eyes of a combatative practitioner. Combatatives claimed the colors of red through gold for their irises. Avery had a very muscular build, with a toned and tanned abdomen and everything else to match the angular jaw that framed off a face that doesn’t bother with beauty. But that is not to say Avery was ugly, no Avery was most definitely not ugly. 

As the walls of solid energy dissipated, two medics strode into the arena. Ash had a theory about medics. She has concluded, after many years of observing on and off the clock, that the psychs flip a switch in their brain whenever they are needed. Whether they are a healer or scientist, as soon as duty calls they are all business. Ash had personally witnessed  a medic-she was a woman and a healer, Ash saw her regularly in hallways throughout the building-go from barely being able to stand up she was laughing so hard to completely straight-faced and running around a corner in the space of an eye blink. Her name was Melanie. Ash liked Melanie, which says something about her character-whether that something was good or bad Ash was undecided about. Ash didn’t like many people. 

Today the medics that strode over to the two students were one of each gender and they were both healers. Healers tended to tend to people freshly emerged from a fight. The woman strode over to Jane-medics only stride, unless it’s an emergency, then they run-and knelt down beside her still limp form. This healer was one of the eldest on the staff, living proudly at about three hundred and fifty years old, and looking a proud forty eight. This woman wasn’t a very chatty person, so Ash only knew her as Ms. Steel. The few times that Ash had heard Steel speak she had heard a very thick Russian accent. She took Jane’s pulse and checked for injuries. She held her right hand over Jane’s knee for no more than a moment, then got up and stayed in the background, observing her colleague. Ash had a knack for winning without injuring much. That could, debatably, come in handy. 

The other medic strode over to Ash and quickly examined her burns. He was rather new, and probably only twenty five or so. This boy very recently graduated from being a student. He still had a supervisor, hence why Steel was still there and simply watching. Medics had a convenient habit of leaving when they are no longer needed. Ash did not know this boy personally. She didn’t know his name. 

The medic wiped his hand over her arm and Ash winced at the contact. He pulled her shirt up to the top of her ribcage and examined the burn. All the while the lingering effects of the touch on her arm were healing whatever burn was there. The boy cradled her stomach for a moment then turned and strode away without another word, Steel falling into step beside him.  

Avery was still standing there with a smile, and now that there wasn’t any pain Ash’s smile just widened. They stood there just exchanging eye contact as the seconds pass. Avery was the one to break the silence with a simple: “Well done, Ash. Well done.” 

“Thank you, Avery.” 

“You have always been our most promising pupil, and are yet to be beaten.” 

Momentarily Ash’s face scrunched. “You know that isn’t true as well as anybody. Why do you insist on ignoring Cass?” Avery’s smile never wavered. 

“Cassiopeia is different. You mustn’t let her lug you down.” 

“I never was. I’m not. And everyone is different, Avery. You can’t be wary of the new. After all, am I not an oddity as well?” 

Avery flashed a look of disapproval to her. Usually her mentor’s disapproval would upset Ash, but this was not a new conversation. She would always stick up for Cass. She was as much a person as anyone else, after all. “Ash, why do you insist on defending that creature that curses your friend’s very existence?” Avery said with a sigh. 

Internally Ash warred between an icy stare and a placid look of patience. The latter won out, as it so usually does. “Cassiopeia is my friend too. And she isn’t just some demon-she is a person. Jane plagues her just as much as she plagues Jane. Granted, Jane was there first, but Cass is a person in her own right. And the fact remains that she’s the one who’s undefeated. Why do you keep insisting that I hold the title when I very clearly don’t?” 

“That’ll be all, Ash. Respect you elders and superiors. We tend to know what we are talking about. Experience makes answers so much clearer.” 

“A lack of keeps you on your toes. There is nothing as dangerous as allowing yourself to be lulled into a false sense of security. Once you allow that to happen the fight has been lost, and often before it even starts.” 

“I taught you that.” 

“Well, you’re a good teacher. And mimicry is the sincerest form of flattery. Or at least so they say. I have found it to be jealously. Regardless, the point stands.” 

“You truly are an enigma, Ms. Daniels.” 

“And proud.” 

“Anyways, I have business to report. Once Jane wakes up, you are to join William in the conference hall for an audience with Governor Allen.” 

“What does the Governor want with us? We’re students. Have we done something wrong?” 

‘Nothing of the sort. Don’t dawdle now; Jane seems to be coming to. I will be joining all of you shortly.” Ash remained confused but gave a nod that indicated compliance. Across the room Jane was sitting up and grunted with mild grogginess. Ash jogged over and offered her hand in assistance. Jane took it and gathered her feet under her. Once standing she stretched her mildly sore limbs. Jane had a slight slump, like a something was weighing down her short and fit frame. She goes to tuck some blond hair behind her ears, but it didn’t do any good. Jane had the curliest hair Ash had ever seen, but it refused to be tamed into ringlets, giving it an almost frizzy look. The dark blond and brown highlights nicely accented the yellowed gold of her eyes. “I will never beat you, will I?” 

“I don’t know; everyone has their off days. And hey, you almost had me there. Gave me quite the burn on my stomach.” 

“Yeah, but the key word is still almost.” 

“Anyways, the Governor wants to meet with us. Apparently he and Will are waiting for us.” 

“Whoa, the Governor? You’re serious? What does he want us for?” 

“Avery wouldn’t tell me. The faster we get there the faster we find out. Let’s go.” 

They jogged out of the training room and down a few hallways to the elevator. They stepped inside. Jane pushed the button marked with a simple four and the door closed. The main elevators of the Base traveled unnaturally quickly and serviced the top twenty floors of the building. Above ground the building was ten stories high, but there were another eleven underground. The bottom floor could only be accessed through a stairwell that only a handful of people knew how to get to. No one even knew where it was or what took place on this floor. Ash hadn’t been curious about this since she was six years old. She had learned about it shortly after her sixth birthday and stopped caring shortly after. People called it the trench, because it is below the first floor, like the trenches below the ocean floor. 

In roughly two seconds, the doors were open again, having gone up three floors. Ash and Jane jogged out and made the next two left turns to a long hallway. They stopped jogging and slowed to a walk. They travelled to the double doors that capped it off. 

They open the door and walked into the most impressive room Ash had ever been in. The marble is the same marble as the training room ceiling, only in the conference hall it sparkled like it had just been polished. It somehow managed to remain like this all the time. There were two long and decorative mahogany tables that covered most of the length of the room. The walls resembled white crystal, and so did the ceiling. There are four elegant columns made of antique-looking stone, one in each corner. At the head of the room was a podium composed of a sort of solid silk, something that was very rare, even within the magical community. The chair behind it was almost a throne, but remained impossibly humble seemingly in spite of its regal appearance. Behind it, an artfully carved black door stood in the wall. This was the one room in the Base that was so impractical. It was a treat to even enter what was probably the finest room in Britain, taking into account Buckingham Palace. 

Ash and Jane entered the grandiose conference hall and were greeted by a boy who is their age and their friend. He has chocolate brown eyes and hair that is almost the same color. Almost all of the males in the government have close to a buzz cut, especially students, but Will chose to let his grow. Will Taylor had a chin that was somewhere between pointed and square. His body wasn’t covered by protruding muscles, but he was still very strong. In a fight he was very good, and had often beaten combatatives-an impressive accomplishment for a psych when both parties were roughly equally trained. By the standards of most girls their age, not excluding Ash or Jane, he was considered very attractive. Actually all three of them were rather good looking. Ash herself had auburn hair and eyes a soft shade of magenta, and she was tall for an eighteen year old. She did have some muscles protruding from her own arms and a six pack that when her abdomen was exposed was unflatteringly visible. Will stood tall in the center of the room and turned and smiled as he saw them. They both returned the smile as they fell into place next to him, halfway between the podium and the door. 

“Any idea what this is about?” Jane asked. 

“Not a clue. You guys fight?” 

“Yes. I don’t think I really need to say who won.” 

Ash rolled her eyes. “Come on, don’t beat yourself up.” 

“I don’t. If I did then that’d make two of us, and what good would that do.” 

“Come on, I don’t beat you up. I came out of that fight worse than you.” 

“If that wasn’t training then that wouldn’t be the case. I’d be dead.” 

“I can’t remember a time when you two weren’t having this conversation,” Will said. 

Ash smiled straight at him and stared in his eyes. “But my dear Will, you have a great memory. Are you implying that we annoy you?” 

Will hesitated, but couldn’t hold it back and blurted out the wrong answer. “No, of course not Ash, you are never annoying.” That comment earned him a smug expression and she stopped putting on the charm. He fumed and narrowed his eyes at her. “You know I hate it when you do that. See that is annoying.” Jane just laughed at the exchange. 

The door beyond the podium opened and Governor Geoffrey Allen walked into the room, his walk attempting to match the elegance of the conference hall but ending up looking rather clumsy. Trailing behind him were two men who had a certain power in their walk. They were both tall and muscular and wore armored clothing and swords made a home of the scabbards of their belts. In their eyes were blank expression and mindless obedience. They were both people who volunteered for a good old fashioned brainwashing so as to be security for the government. This was also a punishment for some criminals. They both looked to be in their late thirties and were probably two hundred years old. A rough estimate. It was very likely that they had had multiple other assignments at Bases around the world. The taller of the two men had a round face with maroon eyes and an African complexion. The other man was about three inches shorter and donned light blond hair, maraschino cherry red eyes, and a hard expression. Both men had short cropped hair styles. The Governor himself was an awkward looking man who appeared to very much need body guards. He was short and heavy set, his face a vague likening to a weasel, with all of his facial features scrunched together more than most people’s. Allen appeared to be around fifty years old and was three hundred twenty two years old. His eyes were barely gray and it looked like he was without irises until one got very close. 

Once he was comfortably seated in his throne with a body guard maintaining a respectable distance at each side he focused his attention on the three children before him. For a moment he appeared to be examining them, judging them, sizing them up, but he soon mastered his facial features and gave them a polite smile. It looked a little like he was suppressing a scream of agony. “Hello, students.” 

In chorus the three teenagers replied, “Good evening, Governor.” 

“I am assuming you are wondering why you have been called to me. I specially requested your ignorance about the situation.” He closed his eyes and nodded, as if in thought. With his eyes still closed, Allen said, “You three have been noted by Instructor Smith as outstanding pupils with extraordinary talents. I have great news for you. Your training is now complete.” 

All three of them lit up, but Ash went positively giddy, and it took far too much effort to remain indifferent looking, save standing up a little straighter than before. “You are all now official members of this organization. You may be wondering why I called you three personally at this point. You have all excelled at your fight training, academics, and occupation training. I have discussed with other government officials and we have come to the conclusion that you three will skip your probation period. You will be put immediately into action.” 

“Thank you, sir. We won’t let you down,” said Jane. 

His next smile, if possible, looked even more contrived than its predecessor. “I know, I have great faith in you,” he lied. “Now down to business. We have an assignment for you.” 

“Already?” Ash asked. 

“I am afraid so. And this will be a great change for you. Your assignment is in America. Lately, there have been a scattering of ignorant hate crimes. Don’t get cocky and think you will be solving crimes or anything of the sort though. You three will be acting as bodyguards for the next suspected victims. We would put more experienced personal on the case, but they are all very busy. Also, you have a special purpose. You three are going to prevent a school riot. We don’t want anyone killed, but we especially cannot allow criminals to harm civilians.”  

“How will we do that?” Will asked.  

“You three are going to go undercover. There is a specific high school that is especially crowded with ignorants. Also, two of the more powerful ignorants currently attends this building. We believe that if you three are enrolled in this school that you can accomplish many things. You each have a purpose in this mission. Will, your job is to identify these two ignorants and any agents from the criminal side. Ash, you are in charge of keeping people calm, and if Will finds anyone, getting information.”  

“There might be other agents in that school?” Will asked cautiously. “Governor, you categorized these as hate crimes, yet you are implying that this is much more serious than that. With all due respect, sir, shouldn’t people on a mission know what the mission’s purpose is?”  

Allen scowled at Will. “Do you presume to question my leadership skills, Mr. Taylor?”  

“No sir, never. I apologize if I implied such audacity.” That moment seemed like a good moment for Will to avert his gaze.  

“Sir, may I inquire as to my purpose?” Jane questioned.  

“Of course, Ms. Abraham. You are there for a few purposes. As is common for the trio of you, you shall act as a bodyguard. You are our three best new fighters. Also common, as I haven’t mentioned yet, is that you three shall befriend the ignorants. Quite frankly, Jane, you are a very friendly and approachable person.”  

“What about Cassiopeia? She doesn’t happen to share these qualities. I’m sure she has a purpose-otherwise I wouldn’t be on this team.”  

“Ms. Abraham, I am going to be honest with you, because I like you. You are a good person and a good fighter. Cassiopeia is feared. She has access to some type of magic or is in possession of some secret of magic that the rest of us lack. She has a certain edge to her personality, and is the pupil with the most aspiration that we have seen in a long, long time. Certainly a few centuries. If word gets out that Cassiopeia is an agent, that will probably cause any enemies to hesitate. She has a reputation. At least she is civil. If she has an off day, I have faith that Ms. Daniels can handle the damage control.”  

Jane’s slump intensified a bit more than usual. Ash could understand this. The Governor had just made it very clear that one of the most influential factors in her inclusion of this mission wasn’t her at all. It was Cass.  

“Your flight will depart promptly at dawn tomorrow. Once in America, you will be provided with any necessary technology. Ms. Daniels, Ms. Abraham, you will be required to wear colored contacts. Mr. Taylor, you should be fine. Any last questions?”  

Jane’s hunch had completely straightened, and her golden irises had been enveloped by a black. “I have a few. First of all, will someone please explain what has happened during this meeting?” Cassiopeia said with a grin.